Tuesday, June 18, 2019

Nearly forgotten "sociological megahits" of 1970



Charles Reich, Who Saw ‘The Greening of America,’ Dies at 91.  (The New York Times, 6/17/2019)
The excerpt, and the subsequent best-selling book, gave Mr. Reich a kind of rock-star celebrity. “The Greening of America” entered the canon of sociological megahits published in 1970, alongside Alvin Toffler’s “Future Shock” and Philip Slater’s “The Pursuit of Loneliness.” But while Mr. Reich’s fame spilled beyond the Yale campus, even spawning a character based on him in the comic strip “Doonesbury,” many critics saw his sermonizing as naïve and sentimental.

The cover of the first paperback edition of Future Shock was printed in 4 different colors. A UB acquaintance of mine at the time confessed he had purchased all 4, thinking they were a series. Probably just what the marketing folks at Bantam Books had in mind.

Related posts:
2019
Anthony Price, author of Cold War spy thrillers that few people read anymore, dies at 90.  (6/17/2019)
Herman Wouk, author of many fat books, dies at 103.  (5/20/2019)
Dan Jenkins, author of nearly forgotten classic sports novel, dies at 90.  (3/10/2019)

2018
Neal Thompson on parenting books.  (6/17/2018)
LINKcat libraries provide little shelf space for titles by 'rule-breaking cookbook author' Barbara Kafka.  (6/8/2018)
Weeding or historical sanitization at LINKcat libraries?  (6/2/2018)

2017
The "spy' books by Aline Countess of Romanones haven't traveled well.  (12/17/2017)
Minimal shelf space devoted to Kit Reed's books in LINKcat public libraries.  (10/1/2017)
Carol J. Adams shares feminist classics from her personal library.  (9/8/2017)

2016
The distant dirty dozen literary career of E. M. Nathanson.  (4/10/2016)

2015
Gunter Grass (1927-2015).  (4/15/2015)

2014
Thomas Berger  (1924-2014).  (7/23/2014)
Peter Matthiessen (1927-2014)  (4/8/2014)

2013
Barbara Branden's shelf sitter.  (12/26/2013)

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